Israeli and US officials were reportedly at talks hosted by UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed.
US Secretary of State for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and US President Joe Biden’s Middle East envoy Brett McGurk are also believed to have attended the meeting, along with Israeli officials.
According to the Times of Israel, two Israeli representatives told the Axios news site that the post-war plan presented by the UAE is similar to an earlier proposal presented by Defense Minister Yoav Galant in January.
Journalists suggested the incident could be a sign of a softening of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s position.
Before the meeting, a senior UAE official had already suggested that Abu Dhabi was ready to contribute troops to a post-war peacekeeping force in Gaza.
The Times of Israel reported that the UAE, backed by the US, will be the first Arab country to publicly announce its intention to take part in the next phase in Gaza.
Lana Nusseibeh, until recently the UAE’s special envoy to the UN, wrote in the Financial Times that she called for the establishment of an “international mission” in the Gaza Strip.
Nusseibeh said the mission would “respond to the humanitarian crisis, establish law and order, lay the foundations for governance and pave the way for the reintegration of the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank under a single, legitimate Palestinian Authority.”
A UAE diplomat said it was up to the authorities to implement reforms, including appointing an independent prime minister, who would then formally request that international forces enter Gaza.
Israel must accept the Palestinian Authority as the governing authority of the Gaza Strip and move towards a two-state solution, she said.
She suggested that all this should be done with US support.
According to a report from Axios, UAE officials have told the Biden administration that the Palestinian Authority’s new prime minister, Mohamed Mustafa, is not the right person to lead reforms.
They suggested that he was too close to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and that a more suitable candidate would be former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
Mahmoud Abbas
Fayyad is a critic of Abbas and is thought to be a better candidate to succeed him.
The US is reportedly looking for other countries to help with post-war efforts in Gaza and to ensure Hamas does not regain control.
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